My Encounters with the Supernatural Part 2

My Encounters with the Supernatural is my newest series of short stories. Obviously, it's about my personal encounters with the supernatural. This is part 2, which takes place when I was 12 years old. I strongly suggest you go back and start with part 1 so that it's easier for you to follow the story. Enjoy!

Submitted: November 04, 2018

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Submitted: November 04, 2018

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I was 12 years old. Six years had gone by since my first encounter with ghosts. I lived in Clinton, Pennsylvania which was paradise compared to those dangerous city streets in Pittsburgh. There was
a nice patch of woodland scenery behind the trailer park my mother and I moved to. I spent every day in those woods. I would build tree forts, trenches, and secret hiding spots throughout the woods
where I would spend most of my time alone. For some reason I was the black sheep of my school and none of the other kids in the park wanted to play with me.

I came to know those woods so well that I felt comfortable being out there after dark. I wasn’t supposed to be out after dark because there
were coyotes in the woods, but sometimes I couldn’t help but sit in my favorite tree and watch the blue escape the sky as hot pink would replace it. I always thought sunsets were the most beautiful
when surrounded by the serene foreground of nature.

One evening, I was perched in my favorite tree, day dreaming to the sound of the crickets and the crashing waters of the creek below. I came
out of my day dream and realized that it was completely dark. The hollow howls of the coyotes getting closer. I quickly made my way down from the tree and began to quietly walk towards the trailer
park. The path was so dark that if I didn’t know those woods so well, I surely would have gotten lost. I listened to the crunch of dried leaves under my feet and the rustles in the brush of the
nighttime woodland creatures. I expected the trailer park to be no more than a few steps away by then, but when I looked up I saw that the path kept going. Perhaps things look different in the
dark, but I was sure that something felt wrong.

I gasped and jumped when I heard the howl of the coyotes heading fast in my direction. They were getting close enough that I could hear their
paws on the leaves. I did my best to remain calm and quiet as I continued to walk the path. Suddenly, a large, grey dog jumped out on the path in front of me. Teeth barred, and growling, it stood
five feet from me staring intensely into my eyes. I stared back at it breathless and still, fearfully anticipating its next move. We stood staring at each other for over a minute when its tail rose
behind its back. The tail seemed like it was detaching from its body and floating into the air above, but then I realized that the tail turned into a grey smoke. The rest of the dog’s body
followed, turning into a light grey smoke which rose from the ground to create the form of a person standing much taller than I. I stood shaking, breathless, and completely paralyzed as the person
made of smoke slowly floated around me in one complete circle. It stopped in front of me and then the smoke shot out in every direction into the air around me leaving a thick fog.

I was taking my fifteenth step in the direction towards the trailer park before I drew my first breath. The fear slowly melted from my body as soon as I saw the lights from the trailers emerge into
view. I quietly walked out of the woods and safely home to bed.

When the next morning came I was expecting to wake up to the sound of my alarm clock, but instead I was awakened twenty minutes early by the strong smell of wet mud. I looked around my room from my
bed remembering my first encounter with ghosts, but I saw nothing. The smell quickly dispersed and I got ready for school.

On my way to the bus stop, which was only about 100 feet from my trailer, I heard the bushes next to me rustle. I stopped for a moment, then disregarded it and continued to walk. On the bus, I told
my friend Stephanie about what happened in the woods the night before. I’m not sure if she believed me or thought I was crazy, but she had no noticeable reaction to my story.

Once I got home, I didn’t go back to the woods. I sat in my room contemplating every possibility of that event, trying to convince myself that I was not crazy. When nighttime finally came, I was in
my bed looking around my dimly lit room as if I expected to see something. Just as I was about to close my eyes I saw her. The same shadow of the little girl I saw years ago. She was standing in
the darkest corner of the room facing me and swaying side to side. She faded away as quickly as she appeared. After another twenty, or thirty minutes of staring at that corner in terror, I
eventually fell asleep.

I never told anyone about the girl that stood in that corner for just a moment every single night. If I was the only one who saw her, then this would be an occurrence that perhaps only I could
ponder. That girl was the only strange thing that appeared for quite a while. One night when I saw her in that corner again, I thought to myself, “Maybe this isn’t in my mind. Maybe this is real”,
and that is when my whole perspective on reality changed forever. I believed that I was not hallucinating, but little did I know how far my curiosity would lead me into the dangerous abyss of the
supernatural.